English 10-15-2008

A Big World Grows Bigger

In the world today, a major challenge has come to be obesity. We face this every day. Obesity is the epidemic of the decade and it doesn't seem to be yielding for anything. As fast food restaurants have gained popularity, obesity has also become more “popular”. Obesity related diseases have grown as much as the deaths caused by obesity. The advertising industry is bigger than ever because of the mass advertisement from fast food restaurants. Not only is our generation affected, but so is the one to come.
McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, KFC, and Sonic are only a few of the major fast food chains. Each of these places are traps for parents and children. The parents find an easy way out of cooking and cleaning and a way to please their children fast. The children find a happiness in the restaurant and get hooked quickly. Whenever my youngest sister, Cassidy, is crying in the car, my mother will get her a Happy Meal to make her calm down. The fast food industry continues to grow no matter how many lawsuits they face. They have food appealing to all. The food is cheap and that appeals to the lower and middle class. Obesity rides these two classes to the point of death in many cases.
Advertising has sky rocketed from the fast food industry. Low prices, flashy mascots, and convenient locations are all over the newspapers, magazines, television, Internet, and every other source of advertising. Almost every child knows what McDonald's is. When Cassidy was learning to read a few years ago, and ever since, she has read everything to us. On our way to Ohio to visit our grandparents, she read the different fast food billboards. She could recognize the different logos. She knows each fast food restaurant and what she gets each time.
Ronald McDonald is and continues to be a familiar childhood character. He gives toys to children who eat his delicious Happy Meals. Children love him. Parents love him. The children are drawn to such places because of Happy Meals, play lands, toys, colourful bags, and the animated mascots. In the movie “Super Size Me”, there is a scene in which they show children the pictures of several fast food mascots and then several important figures in the world. The children are able to identify each character, and often the restaurant they are affiliated with. They, however, fail to name the important figures, including Jesus Christ(Spurlock).
These children are being affected psychologically because of the toys in Kid's Meals. The children are rewarded for eating something unhealthy by receiving a toy. When the parent tells them that it's bad to eat them, the child is confused because they have associated the Kid's Meal with something done good. They also associate the Kid's Meal with happiness which causes them to eat when they are unhappy. This gives the child two ways of becoming obese. With all of the unhealthy fats in the food and without the exercise children need to lose all of the calories and excess fat, the child becomes obese. As they continue to add to this obesity, they lose the motivation to become healthy and exercise daily.
Obesity related diseases are a big deal in todays world. Several things caused by obesity are diabetes, cardiovascular disease, heart failure, arthritis, and strokes. Diabetes is a major illness in our lives today. It is spread genetically and it can be caused by high blood sugar, causing it to arise in people more often. Cardiovascular disease is caused by high cholesterol. The fats inside unhealthy food build up inside blood vessels and cause the blood flow to slow down. This will eventually end as a heart attack which could be fatal to the person. If the blood flow to the brain is constricted to the point of cutting off the blood supply to the brain, a stoke could occur. This could kill them or severely affect them with their ability to do anything. Paralysis is the worse possibility after a stroke. This would end every chance of ever becoming healthy again. Arthritis is another ailment caused by obesity. With all of the excess weight on a person, the bones will begin to be overwhelmed. The pressure put on the joints tire them and they are never relieved because the weight is never lifted. All of these diseases can cause death to the human all for being fat.
Schools are not helping the cause of obesity. Every school I have ever been to has constantly offered pizza, french fries, and other fat renowned foods. Physical Education has been decreased as years have gone by. In my middle school years, I had to have Physical Education every year for the entire year. When I asked my other sister, Standish, who is a seventh grader this year, about her year so far, she said that she is only allowed to take Physical Education for half of the year. I think that it is awful that the school is decreasing the amount of exercise in an adolescent environment. They aren't teaching these preteens about their health and the dangers of eating the foods that they were used to eating every day. I went to Cassidy's school just a few weeks ago and was taken aback by the number of obese children at that school. I was with the fourth graders and there was about one healthy looking child for every three obese children. When I looked around the table at the other parents who had come to eat lunch with their child, I noticed that every single one of them had brought their child a Happy Meal. Cassidy was sad that she didn't have a Happy Meal, and I leaned over and told her that she was healthier and smarter than every single child and parent there. I took Cassidy a well prepared meal from home and am happy to say that she ate all of it.
Obesity is a disgusting disease in today's world. It's sad to watch so many people succumb to the evils of fatty foods and the consequences that quickly follow them. Yet we all willingly give in to the pleasures of the mouthwatering taste of cheap, delicious food from our favourite fast food restaurants. We all enjoy the taste of the Dollar Menu. Obesity can be, and really should be, avoided. We all just have to be willing to take the necessary steps, not the drive-through, to get healthy.



Works Cited
Super Size Me. Dir. Morgan Spurlock. Perf. Morgan Spurlock. 2004